Politics/Government

HE RANTS and rails against the drug menace nearly every day, and sometimes, morning, noon, and night time, but always only in press conferences of public events.Yet for all his big and bold verbal attacks against the illegal drugs trade, President Rodrigo R. Duterte does not seem to have issued or signed even a single […]

SO HOW MUCH is he really worth?According to his 2015 Statement of Assets, Liabilities, and Net Worth or SALN, presidential frontrunner and Davao City Mayor Rodrigo R. Duterte has a net worth for 2015 of only P23,514,569.93, or a slight P1.54-million increase in his declared net worth in 2014.Duterte’s “cash on hand/in bank”, according to […]

CITIES ARE where all kinds of opportunities can be found – and, unsurprisingly, where a lot of voters in this country happen to be. As of records from the 2013 elections, the top 50 vote-rich cities across the Philippines have as much as 13.9 million of the nation’s voters. That is about one fourth of […]

IN A tightly contested election, every vote matters, and even a vote-poor province could mean success or defeat for a national candidate.But that momentary attention may not mean a boost to the province’s revenues after the polls. In fact, among the consistent placers in the list of 20 provinces with the least number of registered […]

This book tells the story of the Philippine legislature by examining the men and women who make up that body. It looks at their demographic characteristics (age, gender, education, profession), their assets and sources of wealth, and also their family lineage.

This book is intended to be a road map. a manual, a guidebook to those who wish to understand how various branches and agencies of government work. Understanding government is key for any citizen who has to deal with the state and its various instrumentalities — whether it is to obtain information, to assert his/her rights, to demand accountability, or simply to satisfy his/her curiosity.

The book is part of a series of manuals that the PCIJ has been publishing since 1995, is a how-to manual that instructs those interested in corruption—whether they are journalists, activists, government officials, academics, researchers, or plain concerned citizens—how to probe various forms of malfeasance.

Investigating Corruption is a user-friendly manual that is based largely on the experiences of PCIJ journalists. Among others, it gives tips on investigating officials, including checking their assets, lifestyles, and behavior. A special section in the book describes how the PCIJ uncovered former President Estrada’s millions and mansions.

THE PHILIPPINE Center for Investigative Journalism (PCIJ) began its research on President Joseph Estrada’s wealth in the first quarter of 2000. The direction of our research was determined by what could be documented. Thus, one track of our investigation focused on the acquisition of real estate and the construction of houses. The second track focused on the formation of corporations by members of President Estrada’s various families.

THE INVESTIGATIVE reports in this book were written between 1990 and 2000, a decade that spanned the administrations of three democratically elected presidents. During that period, the integrity of democratic institutions, which were re-established after the fall of Ferdinand E. Marcos in 1986, was challenged by charges of corruption and malfeasance. Virtually no office, including the Supreme Court and the Office of the President, was spared.

THE DEPARTMENT of Education Culture and Sports (DECS) provides a classic case of corruption in the Philippines. Nearly all forms of corruption described in academic texts can be found in the department: from low-level bureaucratic corruption to high-level political corruption involving education officials, legislators, and Cabinet secretaries. The result is an education bureaucracy so ridden with graft that it is barely able to deliver the most basic educational services to the country’s 15 million public school students.

In the 15 years since its founding, the PCIJ, has published more than a dozen books and produced several full-length documentaries, many of which have won major awards and citations, including five National Book Awards and a Catholic Mass Media Award.

For more information on our books, email pcij@pcij.org or call (+632) 4319204.